Rep. Pat Garofalo (R-Farmington), who chairs the committee, says the goal of the change is to focus more on school's academic achievement than diversity of the student body.

"Desegregation is an important goal, but a more important goal is reading, writing, and arithmetic," Garofalo told City Pages today. "Candidly, I think it's somewhat insulting to say that in order for a black child to be learning he needs to be sitting next to a white child."

Integrated schools have been a central tenet of American society for 57 years, since the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of education that "In the field of public education, the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."

Garofalo rightly points out that Minnesota hasn't been doing very well by the lofty goal of integrated schools in recent decades.

"We've spent more than a billion dollars on this, and our schools have only gotten more segregated," he said.

Rep. Mindy Greiling, the senior Democrat on the committee, says Garofalo's right that Minnesota hasn't done a great job integrating its schools, but that the solution is to do better, not to abandon the project entirely.

"When Pat says there's no relation between integration and achievement, he's just wrong," Greiling said. "Studies show that children of color who have gone to integrated schools do better in life than those who don't."

The bill is expected to make it to a vote on the House floor by the end of next week.

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repealing those mn rules would also repeal this: https://www.revisor.mn.gov/rul... which has as a part this: Each local school board shall, pursuant to Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 (Public Law 92-318), disseminate on a continuing basis its policy of nondiscrimination on the basis of sex.

well if you cant afford to live in an area with a good school how the hell do they expect you to go to this school..come to Connecticut you'll see all the rich kids pretty much are one color and you will see a handful of any other race at the schools...

And I fully support the requirement to drug test for welfare. I have to take random drug test to work my job so its only fair if someone one MY TAX DOLLARS FOR FREE they should have to drug test to take them

I'm so tired of this feel bad for the poor stuff. I grew up poor with an alcoholic and abusive single mother. I didn't finish high school and spent alot of my teenage years locked up in jail. I now work my butt off and make 30$ dollars an hour and I am happy. I'm so tired of people thinking the government owes them. People need to start taking self responsibility for themselves. No one is gonna give you anything. You have the right to LIFE, LIBERTY, and THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. You do not have the right to be given anything. Take some self responsibility for your own lives people.

Well at least Republicans are forward about what they want. They finally stopped sugar coating it and put it in terms that everyone can see their true desire. Desegregation has been failing since Regan repealed financial aid for it in the 1980s. Right now, our schools are just as segregated as they were in the 1950s. Greiling is right when she says that integrated school have positive impacts on students on ALL students. We SHOULD be pursuing this as it is a progressive goal of our liberal society. Everyone benefits when schools are integrated and everyone suffers when they are segregated.

Finally!! School desegregation ruined my primary education and made it that much harder to compete against the rest of the world...russians, chinese, indians, japanese, koreans, germans, etc..all of whom have much better primary education systems that ours...and all of whom I work with every day. And desegregation did nothing to help me prepare culturally for this experience...that had to wait until grad school.

All desegregation did was expose me to violence, sexual activity, drugs, and other negative influences at a young age. That's it. It has no redeeming value.

Black and white students being together in class may not help each other read better or do math better, but a fundamental part of the school experience that desegregation aimed to improve was the ability to work together (and learn about) with people of different races, cultures, religions, etc. There is more to learning than just the three "r's" that goes on in a school.

In a stunning about face with the march of history, Minnesota legislators take money spent trying to redress past mistakes perpetrated on its poorest citizens (I refer to all of those who couldn't move to the suburbs, not just the blacks,) and instead gave it to the richest 1 or 2%, people who don't need the money and certainly don't care.

Why have schools at all? ... There are no jobs anyway for kids to graduate to anyway...

Well except if your daddy already owns a company.

The Republicans have to understand that their "redistribution of wealth" will only work as long as there is wealth to redistribute.

Then they'll be able to stand proudly in front of an American flag, made in China, just like George Bush did and declare "Job Done!"

Billions wasted on "Feel Good" legislation. Take the money, give it to the parents in vouchers and let them decide on the best schools for their children. The NEA thugs will resist losing their power, the Democrats like Dayton will holler racist, but realists will understand that for 57 years our educational system has failed the minority students and now is failing all of our students. For the Childrens sake, vouchers are the solution.

I'm on welfare, and let me tell you, it's *not* free. I have to work 25 hours a week, for no extra pay, and do 13 hours of online courses per week, on top of attending college. All for 241 bucks a month.

Yes, there are people the take advantage of the system, but there are also people that do what they're supposed to do.

Wow, with all due respect (which is none), you're an arrogant fuck. You fail to realize that your story is atypical and not representative of the realities of this country and this world. Congratulations on working your way out of a bad situation. You put in a lot of effort and were lucky that it paid off. What you don't understand is that there are people who work harder than you do, put in more time, and come from worse situations that STILL can't climb out of the hole.

To imply that those people are lazy or don't take responsibility for their own lives just reeks of arrogance. To turn your back on those that haven't had the good fortune that you have? That's pathetic. You're a pathetic human being.

Shut the fuck up dude, if you came from what you claim then you know damn well how the system is designed against certain people in certain circumstances. You bet your ass it's up to the government who implemented all of those checks against those people to help them support themselves if they can't find the means to do it themselves. There are always going to be people that abuse the system and if you think that is ever going to change, then my friend you are in for a very rude awakening.

while living in the socially progressive oasis that was jackson, mississippi circa 1977, i was bussed from the suburbs to an inner-city public jr. high school that was about 90 percent african-american and if the aim of that was so i could learn about other races then what i learned was overwhelmingly negative. let me sum it up for you, never allow yourself to be in a white minority among a large number of inner-city african-americans. if that statement offends you then please enroll your kids in one of these schools, i'm betting you wouldn't even consider it. desegregation busing is one of the all time stupidest liberal ideas to come out of the civil rights movement. i've been a democrat all my life but kudos to the frickin republicans for trying to end it.

So the rich kids use vouchers to go to private school, and the poor folks use their vouchers for...public school? Cute, I suppose. And since private schools have profit margins, it means the government is technically subsidizing a business. So much for "small government not in bed with capitalism"?

Excuse me you want to complain that you have to work 25hrs a week with out extra pay, do 13hrs of online courses per week, on top of attending college and say welfare isnt free? Well cry me a river! Who are you tring to kid?

Get into the real world and then see if what you get right now isnt free. I work 40 hrs a week. and my job requires that i do online courses to stay "compliant" with the policy and procedures of my company. And I do believe you do not have to pay one penny towards your college tuition. My taxes pay for your college.

I paid for my college education by working full time and going to college fulltime and i had two small children to take care of while i did all that. I have student loans that are huge and I must pay them back. But I am happy to pay back my own debt! No free ride for me.

Keep the random drug testing for welfare. It is a sneek peek to what life is really like in the real world of actually working.

For a white female from a middle class background, welfare has been a stepping stone and a wake up call for me. I almost felt entitlement because "my parents didn't give me the necessary...blah, blah, blah" but it was not a free ride. Life happens and people of all walks find themselves in a hard places. Now I work full time, take care of my child and put some balance back into the universe. Stop being so judgemental. I could make assumptions and say that you have a cozy little life in a nice house with a white picket fence and a well paid husband to cushion the edges of your "struggle" to get by but I won't.